If You're Seeing These Signs, Holy Spirit Lives in You

Many believers live their lives in fear, constantly wondering if the last mistake that they made was the one that caused the Holy Spirit to leave. If you've ever come to the place in your life where you wonder if the Holy Spirit is distancing or removing his presence from your life, this is really gonna bless you. My goal is to use the Scripture to encourage you in the assurance of your salvation, in knowing that the Holy Spirit abides with you faithfully. Let's start here. Number 1, Confidence in salvation. Now go with me to Ephesians chapter 2. I'm gonna read verses 8 and 9. God saved you by his grace when you believed, and you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Or it's not of works, but by faith, lest any man should boast. Let me show you something else here. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all. The Holy Spirit comes upon the life of a believer the very moment they are saved. It's not as though you receive the Holy Spirit at some later point. Now, We could talk about the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which is somewhat of a different experience than salvation in and of itself, but that's a different message for a different time. To simplify for the sake of this message, I'll simply say that the Holy Spirit abides with you the moment that you are saved. And the baptism with the Holy Spirit, by the way, is not about you getting more of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit getting more of you. The very moment you put your faith in Christ, From that moment on, the Holy Spirit lives in you, and you don't get a baby Holy Spirit, a new convert Holy Spirit, a children's church Holy Spirit. No, you get the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead. That Holy Spirit dwells in you. And so this takes place at the moment of salvation. Many believers live their lives in fear, constantly wondering if the last mistake that they made was the one that caused the Holy Spirit to leave. But remember, when you make a mistake, the Holy Spirit doesn't abandon you to yourself. He abides faithfully. Why? Because he wants to help you get it right. Why would God remove from you the only power that you have to live holy as a punishment for not living holy? The Holy Spirit is not a reward for holiness. He's the source for holiness. It's by the Holy Spirit that we live holy, which is gonna be one of the points I make later on in this message. But let me say this, Romans 8:16-17 holds a key thought. For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share His suffering. So here we see one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to join with your spirit and then affirm your sonship, affirm your salvation, affirm that you belong to God. So yes, of course, we ought to live holy. In fact, true believers desire to truly live holy. When you become born again and the Holy Spirit comes to live in you, He begins to give you a new nature. He gives you new desires. So though you may make mistakes, though you may slip up from time to time, a true believer will always have that end goal in mind, to be more like Jesus. Not perfection, but progress. As long as you are being perfected, you're under the process of sanctification and therefore a true born-again believer. Don't let your mistakes discourage you from believing that biblical reality. So the scripture talks about the Holy Spirit confirming your salvation, affirming that idea, giving you confidence that you are saved. And this may cause you to wonder, wait a minute, so if I have a little bit of doubt concerning my salvation, or if I'm afraid of the Holy Spirit abandoning me, does that mean that I'm not truly saved? Well, no, and that's not something that I'm trying to inspire in you. My goal is not to inspire fear, but hope and give you truth that will bring correction that will cause you to stand on solid ground. No, what's actually happening here is many times we lose sight of the assurance of that salvation. We begin to take on responsibility, and we begin to think that our salvation depends upon our own works, when the Scripture quite clearly says that it doesn't. Now, some might interject and say, wait a minute, but the true believer should live holy. And I agree with that. Nor am I saying, and please let me say this absolutely clearly, I am not saying— That's right. That you can go on sinning and living however you want. What I'm saying is that works is not what causes salvation. You are not saved by your works, but the salvation produces those works. In other words, I don't do good works to be saved. I do good works because I have been saved. And when the Holy Spirit gives me that new nature, now my desires start to change. Now I begin to desire holiness. I begin to desire that new life. I begin to disdain sin. And though this may be a process and a journey, just because you make a mistake, that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is just going to abandon you. Still, some still might have a little bit of fear in them and they say, okay, well, I did doubt. I did wonder if the Holy Spirit left me. Does that mean I'm not a true Christian? No, it just means that you need to renew your mind with the Word of God and align your thinking with truth. And as you begin to think truthfully, the peace of God begins to fill your heart. So confidence in salvation is one of the first signs that the Holy Spirit lives in you. In fact, that's the mark of the believer. So though there may be some doubt in the flesh, though there may be some wandering as a result of some bad doctrine that was taught to you, in the core of who you are, deep within the spirit man, there is this assurance, there's this deep knowing. It's called the inner witness, this confidence in the salvation that Christ died to give to you. So though the flesh might worry, though the mind might race, though intrusive thoughts might bombard you and bully you and bring you to the place of paranoia, you can always retreat to that inner place, the place of the Spirit, for deep within, in the Spirit, there is this knowing, there is this confidence. And if you'll silence the flesh, if you'll silence the mind, if you'll silence the distractions of the world, you pause for a moment and you reflect, you will sense that assurance. You will know that you know that you know deep within your spirit that you belong to Jesus. And so that's number one, confidence in your salvation. I want you to write this in the comment section, write, I belong to him. Let that be your public declaration. I want you to say it out loud so you can hear it, And I want you to type it in the comment section so that you can read it. Let that be your confident declaration. I belong to him. When the enemy lies to you and tells you that the Holy Spirit has abandoned you, the Holy Spirit affirms that truth, that you are a child of God. When the enemy lies to you and tells you that your mistakes or your past have disqualified you, the Holy Spirit reminds you of the truth. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. If you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you. Not so that you can abuse the grace of God, but so that you can get this right. The Holy Spirit abides to help you continue to walk this journey of salvation. Number 2, and this is very important, godly character. Now, this is somewhat of a balance from that first point, because in the first point, I wanna remind you that salvation is by grace through faith. You can't earn it. It's not something you can do for yourself. It's not something you can earn for yourself. It's not something you can keep for yourself. The work of the Spirit in your life. But with this second point, I also wanna emphasize that there is gonna be some transformation that takes place when the Holy Spirit dwells in you. So if somebody claims to have been saved or claims to have the Holy Spirit, yet shows no fruit, then that's an indicator that they may be self-deceived. Now, again, this may sound like a contradiction, but to help you bring this perspective into balance, let me just remind you of a very succinct way to think about this. I don't do good works to be saved. I do good works because I have been saved. In other words, good works don't produce salvation, but they are good indicators of genuine salvation. So Galatians 5:22-23, But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. This is what it means to be spiritual. How many times have you seen someone try to pretend to be spiritual? And they talk with a dramatic tone, or perhaps they speak with a King James accent and King James inflections, or they quote scripture left and right. And there's nothing wrong with quoting scripture, but if you think that spirituality is summarized by your ability to memorize and quote scripture, then you're mistaken. No. It's not in how much scripture you can quote. It is not in how much scripture you can quote. It's in how much scripture you live. It's not about the knowledge you have about Jesus. It's about the character and the nature of Jesus in your life. So are you loving? Do you have joy? Do you have peace of mind? Are you patient and kind? Do you have goodness and faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? These are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. These are the signs that he dwells in you. Now, I believe that power is a great indicator of the presence of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it's my next point. And I believe that miracles abound in the life of the believer who surrendered to the Holy Spirit. And I believe in speaking in tongues, and I believe in prophecy, and I believe in deliverance, and I believe in healing. All of these things, all of these expressions of ministry are wonderful expressions of the Holy Spirit's power. But the greater sign, the more important sign that the Holy Spirit dwells in you is not your ability to demonstrate power. The greater sign is the character and the nature of Christ in you. Do you act like Jesus? You know, if you spend enough time with someone, you become more like them. The same is true of spending time in prayer, spending time in the Word. Because when you submit yourself in times of devotion to prayer and the Word, the character and the nature of Christ begins to express itself through you. No longer I live, but Christ lives in me. When they look at you, when they converse with you, when they hear you speak, when they watch your mannerisms, when they get to know you, do they see Jesus? I don't know about you, but I wanna disappear. And I want others to see Jesus in me. So that's number 2, godly character. And that's an important indicator of whether or not the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Because if you don't have godly character, you're missing a great demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. More important than speaking in tongues, casting out devils, healing the sick is just being Jesus-like. Do you, are you loving? It's simple. Are you loving? Are you kind? You know, I see some of the comments and some of the interactions between people online, Christians. And I wonder, I wonder if they're surrendering to the Holy Spirit in their lives. I wonder why so many Christians are so angry, so cynical, so bitter, so critical, so negative. What is that? It's a lack of surrender to the person of the Holy Spirit. So number 2 is godly character, that spiritual maturity. That's a mark of true spiritual maturity, the demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit. Number 3 is power. Power is important. Acts 1:8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Let's break this verse down just for a moment. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Here we see a direct correlation between the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. You wanna know the key to his power? It's found in his presence. There are no secrets. There are no gimmicks. There are no hidden keys that only a few spiritual gurus, if there is such a thing, know and understand. No, my friend, it's quite simple. The power of the Holy Spirit comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit. And if you live a lifestyle of trust and obedience toward God, obedience toward his word, trust in his character and nature and voice, then you begin to surrender to that presence upon your life. And as you surrender to the presence upon your life, power's produced. Power comes from the presence. So you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And then we see the purpose of that power. And you will be my witnesses. The purpose of power is proclamation, preaching the gospel message. Now I love the progression here, telling people about me everywhere. Jerusalem, there's the city, throughout Judea and Samaria, those are the regions, and to the ends of the earth. So there we see it's local, regional, then global. And this is the law of stewardship we see in action, even in terms of our evangelism. Many people saying, Lord, send me across the seas to declare your gospel. And the Lord's looking at them going, you haven't even crossed the street to declare the gospel. So again, local, regional, then global. That's the stewardship, the law of stewardship there as it applies to evangelism. So the power comes upon your life. And when that power comes upon your life, he gives you those spiritual gifts. He gives you the demonstration of miracles. He gives you the ability and the authority to drive out demons. He gives you the authority to cast out sickness. And so that is given to us for the purpose of the proclamation of the gospel message, not so that we can point to ourselves and say, look at me, Look at me, look at me. No, so we can say, look at Jesus, look at Jesus, look at Jesus. So that's number 3 is power. Number 4, the evidence of speaking in tongues. Now I wanna make sure I'm very clear about this because I think this spiritual gift has been both elevated and altogether ignored in unhealthy manners. Some people are so obsessed with the gift of speaking in tongues that they'll go as far as saying that if you don't speak in tongues, you're not saved. Well, speaking in tongues does not produce genuine salvation. That would be a work. Rather, those who are genuinely saved have the ability to speak in tongues if they use what God has given to them. But it's not biblical. It's not biblical to say that if you don't speak in tongues, you're not born again. That's just, that's blatant heresy actually. It's a distortion of the gospel of grace. It's a distortion of the gospel. It's a distortion of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues to say that if you don't speak in tongues, you're not saved. That's heresy. It's nonsense. It's nowhere in scripture. And this is coming from someone who many would label as a hyper charismatic. Come to our meetings. I teach on speaking in tongues. We pray for people to be filled with the gift of speaking in tongues. I believe every Christian should speak in tongues. In fact, one of the criticisms of this ministry is that many people think I'm a little obsessed with the gift of speaking in tongues. If you look up my teachings online, some of the more prominent teachings that I have are on the gift of speaking in tongues. And I don't say that to make any other point other than I'm very excited about the gift of speaking in tongues. I love to teach on the gift. I wrote a book that, that was one of the main themes of the book was the gift of speaking in tongues. And this is coming from someone who loves the gift, believes the gift is for today, believes the gift is a heavenly prayer language and not just an earthly language, believes that every believer can pray in tongues. I believe all of that, but I also have to make it absolutely clear that it is heresy to say that if you don't speak in tongues, you're not saved, not biblical. On the other hand, there are other extremes and they're tired clichés really that get used that have no substance whatsoever. People saying things like, well, it's not gibberish, it's just earthly languages. You know, we can show them 1 Corinthians 14:2, which makes it very clear, 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 4, those verses make it very clear that it's a heavenly language. That's something that can't be ignored in Scripture. There are some who will say that it's not for today. Well, cessationism, there's another heresy for you. It's not something that's biblical at all. It's not even, I don't even know where that idea of cessationism comes from. There's nowhere in Scripture where you can find the framework for such an idea. So on one extreme, you have that disdain for the gift, the ignorance of the gift, the rejection of the gift. And then on the other extreme, there's the obsession with the gift. Again, avoiding both extremes, we ground ourselves on biblical truth. And the fact of the matter is that people who are filled with the Holy Spirit can speak in tongues. And that is one of the signs that the Holy Spirit dwells in you. It's not the primary sign. It's not the end-all be-all. It's not the only indicator. It's just a sign that the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Acts 2:1-4. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now here in Acts 2, of course, we know that the listeners heard the gift of tongues as an earthly language, but again, referencing scriptures like 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 4, there is, of course, we see another expression of the gift of tongues that is the heavenly prayer language, but still we see a very direct link between the presence of the Holy Spirit and the gift of speaking in tongues. Now, something I think I need to say at this point, because I know that many believers who click on a video like this or click on a podcast like this, whether you're listening to the audio version or watching the video version, you may have been drawn to this because maybe you do struggle with the assurance of the Holy Spirit's presence in you. Maybe you do become fearful and wonder if the Holy Spirit has abandoned you or if he's distancing himself from you, or if he's had it up to here with you and he's no longer gonna tolerate you. And because of that, I wanna make sure that I'm addressing this because I know that many of those who watch this struggle with that kind of paranoia, and they struggle with that kind of anxious thinking. These are indicators, but if you struggle in one of these areas, that doesn't mean that you can throw up your hands in defeat and say, well, the Holy Spirit doesn't dwell, I struggle with confidence in my salvation. And sometimes there's a little bit of doubt. He must not dwell in me. Or, you know, there's no demonstration of power and miracles in this season of my life. The Holy Spirit must have left me. No, I'm giving you these indicators to give you a bigger picture. These are to be used together and in consensus, if you will. So don't look to any one of these signs as the end-all be-all. And if you're struggling in one of these areas, again, don't throw up your hands and fret and say, well, the Holy Spirit abandoned me. No, these are just, Things that are good indicators, and you can grow in these areas. Again, progress, not perfection. Number 5, love for Jesus. Romans 5:5 says, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. So the Holy Spirit is the one who puts the love of God in our hearts. So that love for Jesus that you carry is the love of God flowing through you. That love for others, in fact, that you carry is the love of the Spirit flowing through you. And so hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. So the Holy Spirit is the one who causes you to love others, to love the Father, and to love the Son. The Holy Spirit points to Jesus. The Holy Spirit's love for Jesus flows through you. There is no one on earth who loves Jesus more than the Holy Spirit loves Jesus. And if you will surrender to the person of the Holy Spirit, he will give you that same love for Jesus, that perfect love, that unhindered love, that pure love that flows through you by the Holy Spirit. And so one of the signs that the Holy Spirit is working in you or living in you is this passion, this love for Jesus. Now, this is not to be confused for emotion, because many times we don't have the emotions that we want to have toward God. In fact, many believers condemn themselves because they're not feeling certain feelings or having certain experiences. And you know me, you know this ministry, I'm all for encounters with the Holy Spirit. I love manifestations like the slain power of the Holy Spirit, where people are laid out on the ground. Where people are overcome with spiritual euphoria, where they're laughing in the Spirit, not in a fleshly or silly, or how shall I say? I don't want. I'll just use those two words. And so, not in that way, but in a very elegant, regal way. There's just this pure joy. You can tell when it's the flesh and when it's the Spirit. That that that joy that overflows where someone just can't help but smile or laugh. Of course I love those encounters, but you can't live your life by feelings. You live your life by faith. You can't look around at other people having encounters with God and say, well, God must love them more, or they must be more powerful, or maybe they have a greater purpose than I have. That's not it at all. God ordains certain encounters for certain points in our lives, for times that we need it. So don't look to feelings. But having said that, there is this passion that the Holy Spirit gives to you for Jesus. And that passion isn't measured in emotion. It's measured, hear me now, please. There is this passion that the Holy Spirit gives you for Jesus. And that passion is not measured in emotion. It's measured in obedience. It's measured in how you live your life. And so he gives you this love for Jesus, this first love, this primary love, this love that says, I wanna live in a way that pleases him. I don't wanna do anything that breaks his heart. I don't wanna do anything that hinders my fellowship with him. I don't wanna do anything that removes from me the awareness or the sense of his presence. I wanna live in a way that I am unhindered. I wanna live in a way that I can sense his presence. And just be aware of Him, where I don't have to live in guilt and shame, condemnation, second-guessing my relationship with Him. I wanna love Jesus in a way that He comes first. I wanna love Jesus in a way that when He speaks, I respond, I obey. And this is what the Holy Spirit does. He gives you that love. He begins to work in your heart, and you can't help but love Him. You can't help but think about Him. He makes you obsessed with Jesus. That's the love for Jesus.